Follow in my Footsteps
by YAJJ
Summary: Reverse Dad AU. Ed and Al don't know something, and Roy and Riza are apparently offended enough to do something about it. A little bit of bonding time for a new family. Parental!RoyEdAl, Parental!RizaEdAl, Royai, Edwin, implied Almei


_Follow in my Footsteps_

A fullmetal alchemist fanfic

 **YAJJ**

 **Date** : 1/31/2017 8:30 pm

Summary: Reverse Dad AU. Ed and Al don't know something, and Roy and Riza are apparently offended enough to do something about it. A little bit of bonding time for a new family. Parental!RoyEdAl, Parental!RizaEdAl, Royai, Edwin

A/N: Written for ParentalFMAWeek just last week, day 2! As I said, it's a reverse dad au, so Roy and Riza have (spoiler alert) adopted Ed and Al. Maes is their commanding officer. Human transmutation won't be performed for another year or more. Just a little happy moment for them because I always insist on hurting them and they just need some goddamn time to be loved.

Also I don't know how to dance and I don't know how others might be taught how to dance. There _is_ teaching happening here I swear, I just dont know enough to actually write it.

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or the reverse dad au!

* * *

"Stop it, Roy."

Ed looked up from his book, where his nose had been buried after being thoroughly squashed in a board game. His eyes rested on his parents—his _new_ parents, of less than a year. They were being ridiculous and lovey dovey again, like they _always_ were when Ed and Al got home. Like they were whenever Ed and Al saw them.

Roy whipped Riza around quickly, hands held secure in a soulful embrace as he turned with her. Riza laughed loudly, her hands loose and trusting him fully. Her eyes shone with delight and with love, the smile across her face unending as she swayed and spun with the man of her dreams.

A gentle tune sang from the radio, but the dance was very clearly not set to pace it. They had been at this for a while now—Ed was sort of amazed they weren't getting tired. Although—he supposed love could do that to you. Maybe. Give you the energies of a thousand sugar pops and the wings to fly across the sky. It was all very poetic, he assumed.

He also thought it was very, remarkably lame.

"You're going to make me fall, Roy Mustang," Riza laughed, held tight to her husband's chest. Her legs shook with exertion, but there was no desire to quit in her coffee colored eyes.

"Well," Roy said, loud and proud. His face was buried in her hair, smile big as the sun. " _What_ is the point of dancing if I can't _sweep_ the love of my life right off of her very feet?" And like that, his arm went from around her waist to her thighs and, with no hesitation, he did just as he'd said, sweeping her up into his arms like she weighed nothing. Riza's arms went around his neck and they embraced for just a moment, before Riza shed all forethought and kissed him hard.

Ed grimaced hard and looked away before he got too big an eyeful, noticing Al, curled up on the other end of the couch and halfway to a nap, had glanced over as well.

Ed punched his finger into his mouth and pretended to gag, faking the act but feeling the disgust deep in his core.

Honestly. It was like watching your _mom and dad_ kiss…

He paused and for a moment his eyes went very soft. He thought of his new legal name change and the very real documents drawn up at City Hall, the trip they had all made to Resembool so Roy and Riza could officially meet the rest of Ed and Al's family, amd request permission to welcome them into their family.

He supposed it _was_ just like watching your parents kiss.

Alphonse rolled his eyes hard and shook his head, smiling as he turned back to reread the same sentence he'd already reread four times.

Alphonse had, and it was no surprise to anyone, absolutely dominated in the game they had been playing together, squaring off with Riza in the final few turns while Roy fed the fire and Ed curled up with his book. Ed and Al had returned only earlier that day from a very long mission, and Ed had "forgotten" to inform them of their coming return. Showing up as Roy had come home from work had been so _worth it_ though, because Roy had scooped him up, Riza had hugged Al tight to her chest, and immediately Munoz had been called up with the request to bring _something_ over, something small, because their _boys_ were home.

(Munoz had dropped something off within half an hour; and Riza had asked if she _at least_ wanted to stay and eat with them. Munoz had smiled at the boys and declined the request, bid them a good night, and headed home.)

Now, with him and Al reading, Roy and Riza dancing, the celebration over but still very fresh in his mind, Ed thought that this was what having a family again was like. He knew how much he had missed it—had nearly done the unbelievable to get it back—but somehow, both the ache for his passed mother, and the relief at family returned, were intensified that night.

And he couldn't explain how… how _good_ it felt, being here, cocooned in a warmth and love they had been missing out on for a few years now. Couldn't explain how much he hoped this never ever changed. And even if it did change, he hoped it would only be with the readdition of their mother.

Roy and Riza were moving again, a little faster, but Ed wasn't watching anymore, his nose buried back in his alchemy book. It wasn't until the dancing suddenly stopped, and Riza softly said, "hey", that he finally looked up to them.

Roy and Riza both stood above them, finally having unlatched themselves from one another. Both grinned ear to ear, happy and excited and just overall looking like the best thing ever may have happened to them.

They each held out a hand, Roy's to Ed, Riza's to Al. Their intentions, though not perfectly entirely clear, were not hard to guess at, and Ed knew the words before they left Roy's mouth.

"Come dance with us."

"I, uh…" Al said, looking down at two very left feet. He folded his book together, the spine hovering somewhere near his nose as anxious nerves crept into place. "We…"

"We don't know how to dance," Ed said for him, putting his nose practically against the page he was reading. He waited for it. The "oh, well fine", for Roy to grab Riza by the hand and them to spin off into the most romantic sunset, pink hearts floating all around them as they mastered an epic display of eternal love.

When Ed was very small, he could remember Mom and Hohenheim dancing. There had never been any music, and the dancing had been sloppy at best, but the way that they meshed together and worked so fluidly, so perfectly together, had been truly amazing. Almost like some strange form of alchemy. No, something less explainable than alchemy… them dancing had sort of been like magic. Almost the same sort of magic that Roy and Riza displayed in their gentle steps.

At his words, Riza laughed a little, the corners of her eyes crinkling with mirth. The face she wore said that she had known precisely that. "We had assumed as much," she said, perfectly honest. So, what… were they planning to teach them how to dance?

"No sons of mine," Roy said, his voice suddenly powerful and strong as if he was using his military officer's voice right then, "aren't going to know how to dance."

Edward looked over at Alphonse, who glanced nervously back at Ed, big golden eyes nervous but not afraid. Really, would learning to dance be the worst thing? If nothing else, it gave them more time to spend with the eccentric people they now called Mom and Dad.

"...Sure, Roy," Ed said with a fake sigh, beaming on the inside. He set his book to the side and put his hand forward, letting Roy pull him up to his feet.

He didn't expect the way that Roy embraced him around the back with one arm, and held his hand aloft with the other. What, were they going to _waltz_?

"I'll lead," Roy said, which Ed thought was plainly obvious seeing how Ed _didn't know how to dance_ , "you follow my steps. When Riza takes you, you'll be leading her."

"...Why? Wouldn't you just—teach me to dance?"

"We are," Roy agreed. He took a step back suddenly, and Ed shifted hugely to match him. "But neither of us know if you'll be leading or following, so we'll give you the chance to do both."

Ed grumbled under his breath, attempted to match Roy's next step, and didn't say another word.

They spun, moved, and swayed together for a little while. It was clear that Roy _knew_ how to dance—even if he hadn't been officially taught, he had been doing it for so long that it was almost second nature. He remembered something about an "Aunt Chris" Roy had mentioned ages ago, being family, but he couldn't remember. Maybe he learned from her? He'd ask him later, maybe.

Ed looked over at Al and Riza, who were attempting the same dance although Al seemed to be in Roy's place. Riza mumbled under her breath little encouragements. Al was so concentrated on the steps that he was stepping on poor Riza's toes, and though she winced occasionally, she didn't seem to mind very much. She even laughed as Al swung her around and Ed _swore_ Al nearly dropped her.

"...Why are you guys doing this?" Ed wondered dumbly, looking back up to his dancing partner as Roy swung him around as Al had Riza, although with a little more surefootedness. "You and Riza are way better at this than me and Al are, and you could have a lot more fun."

Roy chuckled under his breath, eyes lighting up. "What ever do you mean? This has been _plenty_ of fun.

"Pfft. Whatever. Poor Riza is getting her toes squashed."

"And she seems perfectly happily doing it," Roy said, looking over his son's head to the other half of his family. "And, to answer your question, the two of you looked bored and lonely, curled up at opposite ends of the couch like that. Besides, what sort of father would I be, if I didn't even teach my boys how to make the love of your life absolutely _swoon_ for you?"

Riza scoffed from where she and Al were dancing, so Roy shot her a cheeky grin. Suddenly, the hand at Ed's back tightened and he was pushed downward, that hand being the only thing keeping him from meeting the ground.

His grip on Roy tightened to the point where he was pretty sure that he was going to leave dents from his fingernails in Roy's arms. He looked over his shoulder with wide eyes at the approaching ground—it wasn't far enough away to scare him, but there was still something so very… telling, about Roy taking him this far and then _dropping_ him.

"Relax," Roy laughed, grip around Ed's back impossibly tight. "I'm not going to drop you. Don't you trust me?"

After a moment of staring wide eyed up at him, Ed took a deep breath and sighed, letting out all of his nerves at once.

 _Chill. It's not that deep_.

"...Make sure that you don't," he said, grip loosening enough to give Roy's arms some relief. Sure enough, less than a moment later Roy stood him back up and twirled him around, before releasing him just as Riza released Al and they swapped partners. Al buried his fingertips in Roy's shirt and let himself breathe, certainly working up a sweat, while Ed figured out how to situate his hand on Riza without being inappropriate.

"Here, Cupid," Riza laughed, leading his hand right to the small of her back. "I hope you learned plenty from Roy, because I for one don't know how to lead, and one of us has got to do it."

"Bullshit you don't," Ed scoffed, which earned a laugh and a stern, "language, young man. Just take us one step at a time."

* * *

Edward liked to look back on that night with very fond memories. Many days, he wished he could go back to that night, or one of the many similar ones they had shared, and just experience the happiness and love that seemed to radiate from every single one of them. Riza's love for them had only grown in the time since her husband's death, but that didn't mean that Ed didn't still miss that special brand of a father's love Roy had so effortlessly provided.

Eventually, following Roy's death and the Promised Day, Riza had gone to introduce them to their paternal adopted grandmother, a heavyset woman who owned a bar and apparently conducted some shady business on the side. All of Roy's sisters, a surprising multitude of them, had _immediately_ recognized them for who they were, cheering "so _you_ must be the boys Roy has fallen in love with!"

Which of course sent both Edward and Alphonse both into the deepest shades of red they had ever worn, which made _all_ of the women there laugh. Ed grumbled nervously that "it wasn't like that", to which the woman with dirty blonde hair giggled and said, "well, I certainly hope not," and then lead them in for a drink.

As had Roy apparently many, many years ago, Edward and Alphonse both learned how to dance formally with most of Roy's sisters and even with Madame Christmas herself. Starting up, the one with dirty blonde hair (Vanessa, she said her name was, winking) had said "Roy must have done such a good job with you!" before immediately taking Al's hands and spinning him into a quick dance that he almost couldn't keep up with. Rosa, the one who took Ed's hands, laughed at her sister's enthusiasm, set his hands where they should be, and started on a lesson they would repeatedly come back for over the next several months, both to learn how to dance and just to spend time with their family.

Several years later, after a marriage apparently "long overdue", one beautiful son no older than four, and another child on the way, Ed still happily put to use the things that his father and his family had taught him.

He spun Winry quickly, who had artfully learned how to keep up after a few lessons of her own. Their son Thom sat on the floor by the wall, playing with one of Winry's childhood dolls and a set of stacking blocks Al had made for him two years ago.

"Edward Elric," Winry said for sense of ease. Technically the both of them were Elric-Mustangs, as were Al and his wife Mei, but the name itself was a mouthful so they normally only said one or the other. "You'd better not make me fall," she said, thoughts of her unborn child to the forefront of both their minds. "Do you hear me?"

Ed laughed a little, remembering Riza saying something similar to Roy so many years ago. "Yes, ma'am," he said heartily. He thought of his father's words from forever ago, the "what's the point of dancing if I can't sweep the love of my life off her feet?", and even though he agreed fully, he also knew Winry, and knew how strong Winry was even with child, and he feared she would take that as a challenge and attempt to "sweep him off his very feet" as she had already done in the past. He loved her, dearly and desperately, but he feared putting too much exertion on her at a time when the baby was already sapping so much of her energy.

So, for her sake, he kept quiet.

Instead, he just laughed to himself and dipped her, enjoying the way that her grip on him was loose and trusting. She smiled and leaned up to kiss him as he pulled her back up, then threw her arms around his neck and pressed herself close, dance apparently over.

"Sorry," she said into his ear, "baby Elric is tiring me out. I think I'm done."

"Okay…" Ed said reluctantly, leading her over to the couch so she could relax in front of the fire. But he wasn't done _dancing_ yet, he still had the energy, and besides— _what sort of father would I be, if I didn't even teach my boys how to make the love of your life absolutely swoon for you?—_ he had another, considerably smaller dancing partner watching, fascinated from the floor.

"Hey, Thom," he said, strolling over to his four-year-old. The boy was already fairly graceful and agile, and Ed knew that, just like his namesake, little Thomas Roy Elric-Mustang would be an expert dancer. Maybe he should talk to Aunt Vanessa and see if she wanted to come out and show him a thing or two. "Why don't you come dance with Daddy?"

Thom turned big blue eyes back and forth between his excitable father and exhausted mother, both of whom smiled at him encouragingly. "Daddy, I don't know how to dance."

"Exactly!" Ed agreed, eyes lighting up. "And _no_ son of mine isn't going to know how to dance. Let me show you the way my father showed me."

Thom's eyes lit up, because he _loved_ hearing stories of his grandpa. He kicked his toys to the side (Winry grunted something unintelligible but didn't interrupt) and got to his feet, taking his father's hands excitedly. "Fine, but you hafta tell stories, too!"

Ed's eyes lit up with love at the little man at his feet, wondering not for the first time if the way he felt for Thom was ever the way that Roy and Riza had felt for him and Al. Knowing who and what family really was if they had.

"It's a deal."


End file.
